Kirk Hinrich: “He’s heating up…”

Captain Kirk suffered an early-season thumb sprain that caused him to miss time and, ahem, struggle shooting the ball. His struggles — as well as the poor shooting of the now departed John Salmons — really hurt Chicago’s spacing early on, which resulted in some very stanky offense the first couple months.

Well, the thumb must be almost fully healed, because Hinrich’s shooting has been steadily improving over the course of the season. Check out his monthly splits. And in the month of February — a span of 12 games — Kirk is shooting just over 45 percent from the field and almost 43 percent from downtown.

In his last six games, Kirk’s hitting 53 percent of his field goals (33-for-62) and 55 percent of his threes (11-for-20). He’s also dished out 28 assists during that stretch.

Of course, it’s possible the competition has had something to do with Hinrich’s current hot streak. But it seemed worth mentioning anyway.

8 Responses to Kirk Hinrich: “He’s heating up…”

Ilgauskas would be a nice disposable option, considering the Bulls need someone who can score in the post.

However, management doesn’t want to spend any more money, and I think it’s unreasonable to think Zydrunas wants to go anywhere but back to Cleveland. I’m sure his “return” is a deal that was brokered before the trade ever happened.

I think the Big Z situation stinks – it’s BS. IMO, a player that is traded from a team has to re-sign in another city or wait for next season to sign with the same team. It is similar to the Celtics a few years back (right before their Championship). I think if a team gets rid of a player/contract they should not be able to get them back for the remainder of the season. I like Z with the Cavs, and it is a bit more complex than I really know – But I still think that this is ‘bending the rules’ (a nicer way to say cheating).

I just want to point out that Capt. Kirk is shooting 37.3% on 3 pt shots for the season while Ben Gordon is shooting 30.8%. To be fair Ben has been injured and missed 19 games. But when Ben has played he has continued to be radically inconsistent (46 min/30 pts, 19 min/0 pts) averaging 14.6 pts/gm. Hinrich has missed 6 games and has been relatively consistent. Of course the Bulls do not count on Capt. Kirk for offense the way they used to rely on BG. Instead Capt Kirk is a steady offensive contributor and the leader of the team defense.

I am normally confident in saying they could avoid it, but after seeing the schedule – it’s is hard to say. They play ATL, Dallas (twice), Utah, Cleveland, and Orlando in 6 out of the next 10 games (the other 4 Indiana, Memphis twice, and Miami). If they can get through the next 10 games without losing three in a row – I will count my chickens.

THANK YOU, Boppinbob, and an Amen. Let’s not forget that our perimeter defense is significantly improved, the whole team is scoring with better balance and ball-movement, and most importantly: Rose has been able to make this HIS team this year without Gordon needing the ball late.

Oh, and is now the time to remind everybody how much money the Bulls would have had to sink into Gordon to keep him here?

I’ve missed Gordon, but it’s good to see that we’ve moved on to bigger and better things (remembering back to Matt’s ex-gf reference earlier in the season lol). Derrick will continue to improve and become one of the best closers in the league.

and i agree, the $12 million or so we saved will pay dividends down the road. Bosh or Ben?